


Hour of the Wolf

by Robin Gills (Akiseo)



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Bisexuality, Coming Out, Cute, Established Relationship, Fluff, Heart-to-Heart, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:54:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21504046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiseo/pseuds/Robin%20Gills
Summary: 3 a.m. Hour of the wolf they called it. Damon didn’t know where that came from. A werewolf tall-tale perhaps. Was it a vampire’s evolution to wake around this time to lookout for werewolves? Maybe the vampires had named it that not the wolves. Ric will know and then he remembers its 3am not 7am and Ric’s very much sound asleep underneath him.---"So you and Ric huh?” Damon slid his eyes over to look at Stefan briefly.“What?” Damon asks.“How long has that been going on exactly?”“Why?” Damon asks, trying very hard not to be suspicious. His stomach clenches for a brief moment.---Stefan just wants a brother, Damon is truthful, and Ric is asleep.
Relationships: Alaric Saltzman/Damon Salvatore
Comments: 10
Kudos: 245





	Hour of the Wolf

**Author's Note:**

> I promise I'm working on Demon Tomb but this got stuck in my head.

Damon opened his eyes slowly. Nothing had woken him other than his internal clock. Hour of the wolf they called it.

3 a.m.

He didn’t know where that came from. A werewolf tall-tale perhaps. Was it a vampire’s evolution to wake around this time to look out for werewolves? Maybe the vampires had named it that not the wolves. He sighs, seriously why is he thinking so hard about it. Ric will know and then he remembers its 3 am not 7 am or even 5 am and Ric’s very much sound asleep underneath him. Damon shifts and lifts his cheek from Ric’s warm shoulder. He sees Ric’s slack face facing him. Face smooshed into the pillow as he lies on his stomach.

Damon sighs again, he doesn't feel tired, he feels awake and ready to start the day. He gently runs a finger down the long line of Ric's spine. Ric hmms in his sleep but doesn't move. Damon splays his fingers across Ric’s back noticing how pale his fingers are compared to Ric’s tan muscled back, even in the dark. Ric took up a construction job during the summer. Damon still doesn't understand the explanation Ric rattled off all stern and parent-y. Damon complained at first, but it’s been kind of hot seeing Ric out at the construction site swinging shovels and hammers or whatever and then at home, dirty and sweaty- muscle-y. Damon didn’t know he had a thing for that type of guy until Ric came home that first day and Damon jumped him before Ric made it to the shower.

Damon leans down now pressing his nose to Ric’s skin. He breathes deep, even now, even after the shower, Damon can smell underneath the chemical sunscreen tint- the sun. It’s a truly wonderful smell. Even when Ric sweats his pores just radiate sun and warmth. It gets Damon a little stoned, it’s added a little flavor to his senses whenever Ric's around. Damon breaths in Ric’s scent once more and kiss the skin underneath his lips. How mad would Ric be if Damon woke him up for sex right now? Probably a lot.

They don't get to lie in anymore. Ric has to be up at sunrise for work. Damon misses their lazy mornings. Well- Damon can still lay in bed after Ric leaves but when Ric's warmth dissipates from the sheets it's hard for Damon to pretend Ric's there with him. Damon lays back down to listen to Ric's breath, play with the hairs at the back of his neck. Is that grey? No- trick of the shadows. Damon lets out a slow breath.

He hears movement downstairs and his internal alarm sounds. Wolf hour indeed. Damon leaves his bed and bed-mate and quickly tosses on shorts. Before he silently zips downstairs, he takes a quick cursory look to be sure that Ric will indeed be alone. Vampire speed and he finds the source of the noise easily. Culprit not bothering to mask his movements at all.

Damon sighs. It’s just Stefan.

“Hey,” Stefan says pleasantly. “Didn’t mean to wake you.” He’s gathering a bowl, spoon, and ice cream.

Damon shrugs, “Wolf hour.” And walks over to the kitchen island and sits. Stefan grabs another bowl and spoon.

“Why do they call it that?” Stefan asks as he sets the second bowl in front of him and takes his own seat.

“Was lying awake trying to figure that out,” Damon says half smiling and watches Stefan spoon out ice cream into his own bowl.

Stefan huffs a laugh. “Gotta say I do envy Elena sleeping through the night. When you're alone you don’t notice so much. Harder to read with someone there to complain about light.”

“I use to like that we didn’t need to sleep as much as humans. Party longer, read longer, up early, but…” Damon shrugs. They both know. With a human and time is valuable, you want to spend that extra time with them but can't cause they’re asleep. The alternative is cranky human and sometimes you wanna bite a little harder when they're bitching and then they bitch some more. So you just lie there waiting for sleep again or for morning.

“Yeah,” Stefan hmms, spooning ice cream into his mouth. Damon doesn’t bother with bowl and just scoops out spoonfuls from the container. He doesn’t need to see to know Stefan rolls his eyes as he sighs at his actions. He smirks.

“So you and Ric huh?” Damon does slide his eyes over to look at Stefan briefly. Stefan has a little smirk on his face.

“What?” Damon asks.

“How long has that been going on exactly?”

“Why?” Damon asks, trying very hard not to be suspicious. His stomach clenches for a brief moment.

"Just curious," Stefan says lightly. There's a lapse as they eat. Stefan's spoon clinking as it connects with the sides of his bowl.

“So, you and Ric?” Stefan says again but less smirk.

“What about it?” Damon asks sighing. Weirdly he feels his insides getting tight. He can’t possibly be concerned about what his brother thinks after all these years. Oh Gawd, does he actually want his brother's approval? Acceptance? Ugg.

“That- Is it going well?” Stefan says stiffly.

“Yeah,” Damon says, trying for evenness in his voice and he thinks he pulls it off. Where is this going?

"You both look happy," Stefan says.

"We are," Damon agrees. He tries not to show too much on his face because they are, they really, really are. For the first time ever, Damon's in an equal partnership. No mind control, no manipulation, no hang-ups, no secrets or hidden agendas. And even though Damon technically has an edge as a vampire all things considered they're basically equal. And really the vampire thing won't be an issue for that much longer. It's their time. Their turn.

“Where you ever going to tell me?” Stefan asks. It sounds accusatory but then Damon thinks it’s not. It’s just a question with maybe a little bit of hurt.

“Well, I thought it was pretty obvious when you walked into my bedroom mid-blowjob."

Stefan sputters for a moment, mouthful of ice cream. “Not that!” Stefan looks away, probably trying to stuff that image back down. In Damon's defense, the door had been closed. Not his fault people forget to knock.

After a moment Stefan’s face turns a little less red and Damon relishes making his brother squirm for a moment; Stefan tries again. “Where you going to tell me you like men too.”

Oh. Damon’s surprised. He honestly had never thought about it. Never realized he needed to. It’s been decades since Damon realized it himself. Has he never really ‘come out’ to his brother- or anyone? Damon scrapes at the side of the ice cream container for a delay. He sighs though, why is he staling.

He knows why. It might hurt.

“Honestly I never thought about it,” he finally admits. "When I figured it out myself we weren't on speaking terms. Didn't even know what state or even what country you were in." Damon pauses a moment, a few memories coming back, trying to remember the details. "We rarely saw each other throughout the years and when we did there was some crisis or another or Lexi was sticking to you like glue, not really the time or place. Besides it’s not like the first thing you say to someone after years apart."

"Hey, how you been this last decade? Oh, I'm into the guys and the dolls now. Hopefully, I don't get caught and they try to arrest me for it." Damon takes a breath, it sounded bitter. He was trying for a joke, but he had actually been arrested for it. Well- the authorities had tired, but Damon had taken care of it.

Stefan shifts in his seat a little, perhaps uncomfortable.

He's calmer when he says “We haven’t really talked. Just talked, without arguments, judgment, or suspicious motives in a long time, Stefan. Probably pre-Katherine if I’m being honest.”

Playing with the ice cream in the container, trying to mine out the brownie piece, he continues. "If you want the truth. When I finally let go enough of Kathrine to have my own life. At least some life until I could get her out of the tomb. When I started living again and experienced things again I was alone, and I had to deal with finding out who I was after her, without her. If becoming a vampire is sobering being alone without anything familiar and not knowing who you are anymore was twice so. But being a vampire, I suppose gave me a new outlook, in that I didn’t care anymore about how people saw me. I wasn't scared, and I wasn't quite so naive."

"So, I went out and tried new things I’d never heard of, living in small-town 1800s. There was New York City, it's lights, and interesting new people from Europe. New foods, languages, and culture. San Francisco and its drugs, Nashville and it's music, New Orleans and it's debauchery. There was liquor and drugs everywhere and I tried guys. I didn’t have enough exposure back then to be ashamed that I sought out both sexes. I had been ashamed my whole life for other things. Being a coward, weak, and a mistake. I didn’t have the capacity or the willingness to entertain being ashamed of that too. So honestly I didn’t go through internalizing homophobia or wondering if it was okay cause I was a vampire and that wasn’t suppose to be okay either.” Damon shrugged, his thoughts jumbled he’s never really thought about his sexuality that much in a really long time. He’s not sure he’s ever said anything about it to anyone. If the person was willing he wasn’t going to say no.

He snorts to himself, “Maybe once your father kills you for loving a woman whose wrong, a vampire, loving a man doesn't seem like such a big deal.” Out of the corner of his eye Damon sees Stefan flinch a little. "Being I guess bi- or whatever. It's a part of me, who I am, but it doesn't define me. It's not what I'm all about. I suppose I should have said something but my discovery of it happened so long ago it’s old news." He wasn't even aiming for an open secret either, it's just who he is and he doesn't have to talk about it to make it real.

Stefan looks a little pained. Damon kind of holds his breath. Stefan opens his mouth, but nothing comes out for a moment. Then, “I get that. All of it. It makes sense. Time and distance. I’m sorry you didn’t have someone. As screwed up as I was I had Lexi and you left on your own.”

Damon can only shrug, “I did have some friends. Vampire and human. But they just didn't last longer than like 10 or 20 years. More often than not we were too alike and got sick of each other. Meet up again in a few decades, whatever."

"I want you to know I’m not trying to put you in a box or label you." Stefan finally says. Damon rolls his eyes. Leave it to Stefan to be culturally sensitive. This generation and labels he doesn't get. He is who he is, likes what he likes, and he doesn't like to define it. Having a group to be a part of isn't him. He just wants to be. Being assigned a label traps him and he doesn’t want to be stuck. He doesn't want to be defined he wants to be unpredictable. He doesn’t want to be what people expect.

They sit in silence for a brief few minutes. It doesn't feel tense, but he knows Stefan's not done with the subject.

Damon is not a patient person and rips the band-aid. "So, you're not homophobic?"

"No," Stefan's frown is deep.

"Well, there's something bothering you about it."

“I just want to know who you are now. You’re my brother but I feel like you’re a stranger sometimes. Like I don’t know who you are anymore. Yes, some of it is because we’re vampires but some of it’s not. Some of it I wonder if it would have been who you would have been if you’d lived as a human longer. Maybe lived in a different time.” Stefan pauses, and Damon thinks it's very insightful. Very Stefan. “I know I didn’t know who I was yet. Back then. I probably am still figuring out who I am, but I know more than I did. I’m different too.”

“I’d like to get to know my brother again,” Stefan says all wide-eyed and trusting and good. It’s the face of his five-year-old brother. The one he never wanted to let down but did. But now- maybe he’s different enough to not. At least in this.

“I suppose we’ve spent more time apart at this point in our lives than together. These last few years have been the exception.”

“Yeah, that’s a sad fact.” Stefan breaths, smiling grimly.

"I guess I had thought that after all we've been through, especially the last five years, we could tell each other things again. The things that are important to us. Things that have made us into who we are now. Things that would make us close in some way. Brothers. "

Ah. Damon realizes now. Stefan wants some semblance of that family dynamic back. The good parts. He gets it now.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, about being bi or whatever. About Ric," Damon says. And freezes. Realizing he just gave an actual, real apology. Does the hour of the wolf have a truth spell on it?

Stefan moves in his seat to face him, smile all over his face. He looks achingly like that little boy from their human lives.

"Okay, okay," Damon waves him off before he gets up to hug him. Damon can't deal with that right now. He feels like he's really said some truths and he's uncomfortable. Stefan just shakes his head and laughs. He doesn't take offense. He chuckles and turns back into his seat.

“So you guys are good,” Stefan says.

"Yeah," Damon crinkles his nose a little. His brother wants communication. "Well as good as I've ever known a relationship to be. Better really."

"What's your longest human relationship?" Stefan asks leaning over the counter on his arms.

"I'm going to need to start drinking bourbon if you're going to start asking me those questions." Damon looks around. Do they even have the hard stuff here or just the living room?

"Some other time," Stefan chuckles. “Have you- have you guys talked about future stuff?”

This, Damon thinks, is the second thing that's been on his brothers' mind for a while. Not necessarily Damon and Ric's future but Stefan and Elena's.

"Yeah, actually," Damon answers. Stefan looks a little surprised, but he doesn’t interrupt so Damon shrugs and continues. "I thought he wouldn’t be up for it. I thought- I was content to watch him grow hotter with age and become the hot young thing he was dating, but he’s started asking questions about it."

“Really?” Stefan asks kind of hanging onto Damon's words.

Damon sighs, "He’s worried about the blood-lust, control over it. But have you seen the guy? He’s a burger guy but he eats salads on purpose. And has only punched me in the face once. I know he wanted to a couple more times.” Damon huffs a laugh and Stefan chuckles. They can kinda laugh about it now. Now that everyone is fine.

“I think the guy has pretty good self-control and he’ll be okay when things amplify if he turns. He doesn't take loss well but who does. And I’ll be there. The killing is inevitable, but it can be rare. If anything, I'm worried he’ll be a buzz kill.” Damon smirks a little and Stefan smiles softly. Damon’s fairly confident Ric will be the most responsible vampire you’ll ever meet sans Caroline. And if it turns out he’s not perfect then Damon can handle it. They can handle it. Damon knows Ric’s image of an out of control vampire is skewed to what Stefan’s ripper-self has done. But rippers are rare and with Damon there he won’t let anything close to that happen. Surprisingly he's learned. He made mistakes with Stefan, but Damon learned from them.

"Yeah I could see him being one of the good ones," Stefan agrees. They eat around the soupy bits of ice cream and Damon snags the chunk of brownie. "Elena?" Damon asks communication is two ways.

Stefan sighs, shaking his head. "We haven't talked about it. But I think I already know how she feels about it." Which means she won't and their time together is numbered. Damon nods understanding.

Damon hears shuffling feet and he can smell the sun. Ric walks into the kitchen sleepily. Hair tussled, sticking up. Damon can see above his t-shirt, Ric still has that fabulous hickey Damon gave him earlier.

"What are you guys doing?" Ric asks yawning. He plops down next to Damon at the counter, slumping heavily. He’d been soar from hacking at concrete or whatever earlier.

"It's the hour of the wolf," Damon answers, he resists reaching out and taking one of those big hands into his own. "We're trying to figure out where it comes from. Werewolfs? Vampires?"

Ric blinks at him, taking a second to turn his brain online. "Well, it's more commonly called the witching hour."

"Ah, so it's like which supernatural creature appropriated it?"

Ric snorts. "Could be more regional. Hour of the wolf originates from the Scandinavian countries. Which based on our resident Lockwood wolf population is a hot spot for some of the first European werewolves. Virginia may have been settled by the English, but Mystical Falls had Native Americans and the originals."

Ric rubs a hand over his face, trying to clear away sleep. "Obviously, Native American werewolves were here first but well you know that nobody in at least the two last centuries did. If they had a term for it, it didn't get pasted into the local lexicon. If you want to take the supernatural out of it it's just a time leftover from per-industrialize age and electricity became a thing. Threw all our internal clocks off."

"Actually though," Damon sees excitement in Ric's eyes, his gears spinning now, brain turning on, "I did read a paper couple years ago that conducted a sleep study and found participants that didn't have electronic light or screen time woke consistently at 2 or 3 am. They were highly alert and highly functional for an hour or so and then go back to sleep."

"One outlying suggestion stated it was human's natural defense against the paranormal. If you two are experiencing it, it could be because you were born per-electronic era. Or being paranormal it's the time you rise to be active. Paranormal activity spikes between 2 and 4 am. Your internal clock is waking to go out and be paranormal?" Ric chucks lightly. Damon snorts, "Go out and be.”

"Actually sounds like a fascinating research topic.” Ric trails off thinking. Damon recognizes that face, he’s probably already planning an outline and where he needs to go to start research.

"Sounds, boring. Forget I ask."

Ric chuckles sleepily. And leans over to kiss Damon's cheek, he squeezes Damon's bicep gently. "Well if nothing life-threatening is happening I'm going back to bed. I still have a 5 am alarm."

Damon grumbles, he doesn't like that. He grabs Ric's calloused hand as Ric passes by them and hops off the stool to follow Ric. "Goodnight Stefan." Stefan murmurs a “night.”

They settle back in bed and Damon curls against Ric's side. Nose fitting in just under Ric's chin. He can smell the sun and Ric's sent. "You'll pick me?" Damon whispers into the dark.

"Yes," Ric whispers.

"You'll love me?"

"Always."

"You'll stay with me?"

"Forever," Ric whispers and Damon feels Ric shift, stubble and lips press to his forehead. Damon can sleep now.

**Author's Note:**

> The 3:00 a.m. question—and an electric answer?  
> https://www.joshuacutchin.com/single-post/2015/06/03/The-300-am-question%E2%80%94and-an-electric-answer


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